关键词: 世界文学, 系统, 反身性, 歌德, 德国浪漫派

Abstract: Walter Benjamin, with the perspective of a 20th-century person, recognized the radicalness of the German Romantics. The Romantics, through their systematic and reflexive methods, not only surpassed Goethe in their philosophical contemplation of art but also aligned with contemporary avant-garde scientific theories in epistemology. Under a new epistemological lens, Goethe's concept of world literature would also take on a new form: not an objective understanding of the literary world, but rather the creation of one's own system within the world literature system, outside of which world literature inevitably becomes a blind spot. Similarly, Fritz Strich, driven by political motives for national reconciliation, endeavored in the first half of the 20th century to shape Goethe's Idee der Weltliteratur, effectively establishing a new system within the system. Historical examination also reveals that in the 19th century, Germans were once hesitant among Goethe, the Romantics, Hegel, and others, uncertain about whose concept of world literature to adopt. Reintegrating the concept of world literature back into the system of world literature not only dispels the illusion of a unified tradition of world literature but also provides a theoretical basis for non-Western nations to construct their own concepts of world literature.

Key words: world literature, system, reflexivity, Goethe, German Romantics